The Cost of the Data Retrofit

Thomas Krol — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 13:39:36 +0000

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

My team threw down a challenge for me this week. They asked me to use as many song references as possible from our featured artist in this week’s email without being too cheesy or overwhelming. Challenge Accepted! Let me know if I’ve succeeded or am simply running to stand still…

Here is what the experts are saying, and some takeaways from the past week:

**A Beautiful Day with HubSpot Data**

Looking at the HubSpot data for February, I see some ongoing positive trends:

Closed Deals increased and Deals Created remained more than 20% above the benchmark!
Sales Calls made a huge jump (53% vs. 36% over benchmark in January)
Sales Conversations continued strong at 11% over benchmark

It’s great to see the elevation in the February numbers – indicating some strong optimism in the market. Hopefully we’ll continue to see closed deals increase as sales reps around the world help convert those leads that still haven’t found what they’re looking for.

Bad Data – Where the Streets Have No Name

My post last week about quality data triggered some spirited discussion. I outlined some strategies to improve data quality – but what is the actual cost of bad data?

One way to look at it is in terms of retrofitting costs – the longer incorrect records remain in the database, the more expensive it becomes to deal with them. In data management circles, this point is illustrated by the anecdotal “1-10-100” rule of thumb: It takes One dollar to verify a record as it is entered, $10 to cleanse and de-dupe it, and $100 to deal with the repeated ramifications if nothing is done and your bad data gets out of control.

Research firms like Forrester have reported in the past that strong data organizations can realize up to a 66% rise in revenue compared to those in the ‘average’ category! Before you go numb over-analyzing your data, think about the stages of the demand waterfall, and determine how a small improvement in data quality can increase conversion rates at each stage… resulting in the sweetest thing – additional revenue!

NFTs – Even Better Than The Real Thing?

The Kings of Leon have brought the concept of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) to the forefront of entertainment media this past week – so much so, that you’re probably already sick of seeing all the press about NFTs.

I’m certainly no expert, but I’ve compiled some resources below for you to make up your own mind and get educated!

Alan Cross – What are NFTs and why is the music industry going crazy for them?
Seth Godin – NFTs are a dangerous trap
Everest Pipkin – Environmental issues with Crypto art

It seems like the NFT market will continue evolving with or without you. Whether you’re stuck in a moment you can’t get out of, or have a concrete desire to invest in Crypto art, the ramifications on the entertainment industry and B2B will be vital to track over the coming months.

ABM – I Will Follow

Join us and Forrester for another webinar – “Are You Ready for B2B Account-Based Marketing?” Follow our techniques and create ABM Success in 2021 – sign up and we’ll send you the Forrester research report too!

As always, if I can help you out, let me know! Don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello.

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post The Cost of the Data Retrofit appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

Overcoming Bad Data

Thomas Krol — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 15:32:53 +0000

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

We’re all busy. But how busy are we… really? Are we moving things forward on a daily basis, or just going through the motions? With almost a year of various levels of lockdown behind us, perhaps we need a little novocaine for the soul to get us through and keep moving forward!

Give this song a listen with me as we discuss takeaways from the past week:

Increasing Data Quality

It feels like I’ve been talking to clients about data A LOT lately – intent data, data quality, data sourcing. The discussion always ends up coming back to that old computing adage, ‘garbage in, garbage out’ – and it’s as applicable now as it has ever been! So I spent some time looking at my favourite sources for research around data to discuss this week.

B2B data decays rapidly. I’ve pulled some stats from various sources – based on these, it’s no wonder companies struggle to keep their data clean!

40% of email addresses change at least once every two years
18% of telephone numbers change every year
21% of CEOs change every year
25-33% of email addresses become outdated every year

And I’m sure these numbers have increased due to COVID! According to ZoomInfo, there are some things you can do to address bad data:

Audit your database
Improve your data collection methods
Automate data maintenance

The HubSpot data, as well as reports such as this one from Dun & Bradstreet, show that marketers have increased investment in the quality of their data and are placing much more emphasis on data quality to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

How are you improving data quality? Is it top of mind for your organization, or is your data quality costing you more than you realize?

Recorded Music Did Well Last Year

COVID didn’t keep the recorded music industry down last year, as revenue was up 9% to around $12 billion. That’s the 5th straight year of growth for the industry! According to the latest year-end report by the RIAA for 2020, streaming accounted for 83% of the total or a little more than $10 billion.

Paid subscriptions to on-demand streaming services are at the heart of the streaming revenue increase, and these subs grew by 14.6% up to $7 billion. Many wonder whether streaming subscriptions have hit the saturation point, but that’s not indicated in the numbers.

How does this impact B2B? Streaming services have a lot in common with B2B SaaS solutions. I think we can learn a lot by watching B2C tech and the trends in their marketing strategies and performance. Are there lessons learned that you can apply to your B2B solution? Perhaps it’s a tweak to your pricing model or a change in your market positioning.

No matter what, based on these results, it seems that there is no chance of them ‘sputtering out’ anytime soon!

Are You Ready for ABM?

Free Forrester Report Our friends at Forrester are joining us for another webinar – “Are You Ready for B2B Account-Based Marketing?” Learn how to create your own ABM Success in 2021 – sign up and we’ll send you their research report too!